Terribly Interesting

You might find it strange that I would have picked this book up because I do not have any adult children. I decided to read it for two reasons.  1. What people say is true. It goes so fast. My kids will be adults in the blink of an eye. Why not go ahead and prepare my heart and head to help them fly on their own and support them as best as I can? 2. Sometimes aging parents can feel like adult children and I need all of the prayer help I can get to support them to the best of my ability. I am truly glad that I picked the book up. It handles a wide range of topics such as blessing & releasing, prayer for spouse, through divorce, a job, health & mental health, prodigal children, and addiction.  It is a rich encouragement reminding me to daily take my cares for those I love straight to Jesus. I wish I could buy a copy for all of my friends with adult children. Buy it. You'll be blessed. So will your kids. Affiliate links are an easy way to support ...

I wanted to share some devotionals and a Bible that my girls have been enjoying. My almost 11 year old is loving the Brave Beauty dev. She spends time with it every night before she goes to bed. It takes courage to do beautiful things, to come out of darkness as well as helping others out of darkness. Inside you'll find prayers, quizzes, and calls to courage. It is a well-designed book for preteens and teens. It's part of the Faith Girlz collection written by Lynn Cowell, part of the Proverbs 32 Ministries team. You can buy it here: Adored 365 is great devotional for teen girls. The layout is beautiful. After each short reading, there is a space to pray or write thoughts. As I read through it, I loved how the author, Lindsay A. Franklin, kept the focus of the reader on the attributes of God. She continually invites the reader back to trust in God. It's a great way to start the day for young women.  This isn't something I would usually be interested ...

This book drew me in right from the get go. Fresh ingredients showing love at an open table. I'm in. The great part is that we get to follow Lia around to all of the tables she held on her many adventures. Look at that book cover. Don't you want to sit right in the middle of that table and eat? She had me right off the bat describing eating homemade food in Greece. I followed her through her journey to finding love and losing her uterus to wondering what God had in store for her family. I don't want to issue any spoiler alerts so you'll have to read the book to find out what happens. I do want to share this that stuck me. He very much intended me to bear things of beauty and worth. There's more to love, people. One thing is how she spoke about the food industry. Much of her early writing and attending food conferences included people who attempted to make food and elitist thing. Knowing how to do or cook something somehow made these critics feel super...

I originally found interest in this book because all year long I keep hearing and seeing the word "remember" every where I go. Remember. I have been on a mission to remember the things God has done for me and those I love. I did not initially realize that this little is a companion to a book entitled Memory Rescue. The timing of me reading this book hit me pretty hard as I sat in the neurologist's office with my dad for his dementia that is progressing. It is truly one of the hardest things I have dealt with. It's hard loving someone so much and being able to do nothing to help them. If my help involves change for him of any kind, he doesn't want my help at all. It's a deep ache to miss people who are not missing from you physically. As this disease progresses, I feel like I need to read everything I can to help me transition to this next phase of life. It seems like that angst of having your first child. I have no idea what I am stepping into and want ...

I was recently asked to write a story of my journey through miscarriage and infertility for the Trying Collective. I thought I would share it here as well for anyone who might be hurting. I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there. My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent ...

Y'all know I am forty. I often forget that this age is middle-aged. I picked this book out of the review queue and thought it would be interesting to prepare for the future. As I was reading, I realized that I have or am living all of the things in this book. In many ways it was helpful and encouraging. In many ways I thought it was WEIRD and preached capital T Terrible doctrine. Here's my two cents. Jennifer talks about why teenagers make fun of us, rebel against us, and detach from us. That is always helpful to remember because it helps us to engage the issue instead of reacting to it. She didn't give much help in the engaging area however. She also dealt with how our kids make fun of us as a way to build their independence and prove themselves separate from us.That can be helpful in affirming our children's individualism.  Really this was a strange group of essays that formed a memoir. She went from wearing glasses that her kids said look like Elton John, ...

This was the second book in a set of previously unpublished lectures by Frederick Buechner. The first one I read I loved the whole way through. It spoke to me page after page. This one was good and thought provoking until the middle. Then It lost me. You can read about the other things I loved in this book here:  http://www.stephaniecherry.com/2017/10/off-book-stack-remarkable-ordinary-by.html The first part was all about remembering. That hit me because that's a bit of a buzz word in my prayer life. I think often of the stones of remembrance in Joshua. I often go back through prayer journals to remember what God has done for me and ask him to do it again. He told a story about a dream he had where he was in a hotel. He wanted to find his way back to the room he was in the night before and couldn't. He asked to front desk clerk how to get to that room and the clerk told him that he only needed to know the name to return there. The name of the room was "remember....

 I recently read a few previously unpublished lectures by Frederick Buechner. The first one met me right where I was. I needed to walk through my life and sort out some things. I needed to let go of empty relationships. I needed to carve out greater moments inside each day to sit at the feet of Jesus. The story telling in this book helped me sort out some things. The words were like that of an old friend we wish we all had. It is a rare person who can tell simple stories about their lives and it hits you to the core. Frederick Buechner had this gift. This was one of the most impactful lines of the the  second book. I read it over and over and shared it over and over. It is so easy to identify as a victim and forget that we are hemmed in by glory. The enemy is tricking us into being infatuated with inferior things and we must ruthlessly defeat the lies before us. This isn't who we are. We are hand-crafted image bearers of the Most High God. We have been redeemed and be...

I have not anticipated a book this much in quite some time. I was deeply encouraged after reading Kisses From Katie and I looked forward to the wisdom God would give her to share with us. Of course, the book did not disappoint. We follow her all over the streets of Uganda as she quietly loves and brings healing to those around her. We sit in the sacred space of the bedside of woman being ushered into the arms of Jesus. We follow her on a plane to America to get a young man desperately need surgery. We walk the isle at her wedding and welcome a new baby with her. My heart is wildly aglow from the word of her testimony. So much of her story I can empathize with. The same words he told her through scripture, he has told me (and I'm sure many of you). He walks her through the suffering God declares before the restoration in Habakkuk. Over and over Isaiah 61 speaks to her. Beauty from ashes doesn't often look what we think it will. Sometimes it comes as we usher someone into...

This is one of those books that will change you if you give heed and listen. The voice of culture tells us to grow and build exponentially. It occurs in our Christian culture as well. We are impressed by the one who has amassed the most followers. The problem with this mentality is that it completely denies the descending way of Christ. He drew people in to serve them and renew their hearts. Right out of the gate, Gordon takes us into addressing the sin of his own drivenness as a pastor. What a refreshing thing to see a man in a high profile position allow his heart to be taken to task by the Holy Spirit. God convicted him of the many ways that he had been moving in his own power and agenda. He was doing it at the great neglect of those closest to him. Gordon lays out some simple ideas that can change how you relate to God and others. We can do quite a lot by being teachable and learning to truly listen to others. There is even a section about how to listen to your critics a...

 Oh how I loved this book. The story deeply touched my heart. It all started when fifty-five year old Jim Bradford ended up in a diner on a Saturday morning looking for coffee. It was a place he never really went to, but somehow ended up there that morning. He noticed a small boy sitting in a booth all alone. He began inquiring about him and went over to speak with him. After leaving the restaurant, Jim couldn't get HK out of his mind. He went back repeatedly to visit with him at the diner. Eventually, the two of them became best friends. HK's grandmother and caregiver allowed Jim to take her grandson out to church and to eat. Jim saw to it that HK's needs were met. His blindness and Cerebral Palsy were no match for his charm and caring heart. I hope that you will read this book or read about the story. Jim stepped straight into the fatherless generation and made a difference. HK has gone on to do amazing things as well. You'll see how his personality has gar...

Beth just rereleased Get Out of That Pit for it's 10th anniversary. I had read it before when it was initially released, but decided I could probably stand to read it again. I read a lot of books, around a hundred a year. I don't always remember every detail of them, but I did in this case. I remembered nearly every part of this book. I remembered it so well that I could tell you where I was sitting in my house ten years ago when I read different chapters. That tells you that it had a profound impact on me. I think this book is full of power. It is desperately needed still, a decade later. It is a current word to the church. I think so many of us in the body of Christ are ill-equipped in handling the misdeeds of others that we unintentionally shame them into a pit. How rare is the hand that acknowledges sin and still offers a hand up.   Now, one thing I love about Beth Moore is that she never wavers of her tireless preaching of the sovereign power of God. She makes n...